Carla Conte

Creative Director, Brand & Creative

Carla Conte will show you how you can apply these trends to your salon in order to stand out and succeed. Carla is the creative leader to one of MENA region's top boutique design firms. She ensures the interior and branding work produced at Brand Creative is rooted in strategy and driven by innovation. Her mission is to craft memorable moments that create meaningful brand journeys.

Samira Olfat

Brand ambassador, Max Factor

Beauty maven Samira Olfat was selected as Max Factor’s Brand ambassador/Regional Makeup Artist in 2007. Recognized for her innovative and creative looks and her powerhouse of make-up artistry skill, Samira has tended to the faces of global, regional and local luminaries, including Eva Longoria, Nicole Scherzinger and Allison Harward, Carmen Electra Chosen as the Head Makeup Artist for Dubai Fashion, and having served as Head Makeup Artist for Tory Burch and Swarovski Fashion show.

Alyssa Almaiahi

CEO & Founder, Mint Stalk

Alyssa has built a number of successful brands, e-commerce platforms & Social Media accounts for both multinational companies & start-ups. She enables businesses to monetize their Social Media profiles and strengthen their brands in the market. She has now set-up her own consultancy firm, and enjoys supporting businesses in the beauty industry by offering growth hacking techniques & full account management.

Amna Abbas

Senior Analyst, Euromonitor International

Amna Abbas is a Senior Analyst at Euromonitor International focusing on Beauty and Fashion, conducting analysis on beauty and personal care, personal accessories and eyewear, apparel and footwear, consumer health and luxury goods. Amna hold a Masters in Strategic Marketing (Top Graduate) from the University of Wollongong, and her professional interests includes the dynamics of beauty and fashion within the Middle East region, with a specific interest in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Ellie Raheb

Entrepreneur & Law Graduate from Pepperdine School of Law, Malibu, USA @Rabeeskincare @irangolab

Managing director of a family Empire in the business of Roses from 1922. Famous for the worldwide brand of “Rabee Rosewater”, and largest producer of rosewater and essential rose oil in the world, supplying world famous cosmetic brands with raw materials for their cosmetic and perfume formulations.

After 15 years of experience in the beauty industry, in 2017, Ellie revolutionized the skincare Rosewater market with the launch of a special formulated organic rosewater toner & mist with 24K Gold, to help collagen depletion and preserve premature ageing.

Ellie is currently working in expanding her line of rosewater products for men grooming as a part of a skincare regimen to enhance wellbeing and beauty.

Paria Ghorashi

After an education in Oslo, Paria spent 8 year with Varner-Gruppen, as buyer and managerial roles, before transferring to Floyd by Smith, spending the next decade leading their international expansion across the MENA region.

Following the birth of her first child, Paria founded blowout&go order to fulfil a clear gap in the market for a professional yet affordable mobile hair styling service in Dubai. Under her leadership as CEO the group has expanded to be regarded as one of the leading beauty brands in the region.

Her distinct style and personality has led Paria to become one of the most talked about social and cultural influencers in the region, regularly working in partnership with major brands to assist in their marketing campaigns.

Her remit has now expanded as blowout&go goes global with its beauty tech platform bgX. A groundbreaking new service delivering professional salon stylists to the customers via a global partnership with Uber. It has launched in London, Paris and Dubai and will move to the US in 2018.

Vimitha Nangani

Vimitha has been associated with SGS for the past 3 years and is the Section Head, Certification Center for Cosmetics & Personal care. She takes care of Conformity Assessment and Regulatory requirements for the GCC countries which includes Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar for several other consumer products like FCM, textiles, domestic household chemicals alongside cosmetics and personal care. She is works closely in liaison with regulatory authorities such as GSO, SFDA, ESMA, MoH Bahrain etc. She holds an engineering degree in Biotechnology Engineering and a master’s in Energy.

Zahra Abdalla

Zahra Abdalla considers herself a modern-day Bedouin. The half-Iranian and half-Sudanese cookbook author, entrepreneur and social media influencer was born in London, England and lived in various cities across the world including Khartoum, Riyadh, Vancouver and London, before moving to Dubai and calling it home for the past 15 years.

Her culinary journey started with her online blog in 2010 and soon thereafter she presented he own cooking shows on MBC3, and hosted the fourth season of a food and travel documentary show called Maggi Diaries on MBC1. As part of her work on Maggi Diaries she had the opportunity to travel to Egypt, India, Spain, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, and meet amazing, inspiring and wonderful women of change who addressed important social issues including food wastage, hunger, environment, mindfulness and women’s empowerment.

Working from her studio, Zahra develops and creates modern interpretations of Middle Eastern cuisine, and delicious traditional Arabic and Iranian food. For Zahra, food is artistry as well as therapy, and a medium through which long-forgotten memories can be brought back to life or new ones can be made for her own young family.

In additional to her public roles, Zahra has recently launched a Creative Culinary Production company called Wild Spatula.

Zahra is married and has three young boys, and loves to travel, stay fit and collect art when she is not obsessing over new recipes.